Jake: The Sinner Saints #3 by Adrienne Bell Page A

at Cheryl’s text.
    She was ashamed to admit that she’d been caught off guard when the familiar alarm on her phone had sounded. After everything that had happened she hadn’t devoted a single thought to her friend all day. Apparently, it had been more than a minor oversight.
    It wasn’t like she hadn’t had the time to check in. Since spotting her brother at the lake, Jake had figured that Silas’ men had followed the truck long enough to know they were headed south, and decided that it was safer to take the long way back to San Francisco. That meant heading back north for a while before cutting west on back roads.
    And he wasn’t kidding. It was the long way. They’d been at it for a couple of hours now, and she guessed they still had a couple more to go. That was fine. There was no rush. Someone back at Macmillan Security had been kind enough to book her on the first flight back to Detroit but it didn’t take off until late that evening.
    Until then, Verity figured that she’d just sit back and soak up what little time she had left with Jake until she flew out of his life forever.
    Of course, that was before she’d seen Cheryl’s text.
    I’m alive she wrote back.
    It only took a few seconds for the reply to come back.
    Oh thank God.
    Why? What’s going on?
    I was hoping you were going to tell me. The police are here. They’re all over your office. Looks like they’re clearing the place out.
    The air left Verity’s lungs all at once, like someone had punched her square in the gut. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a mistake. It had to be.
    Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jake turn towards her.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    But Verity couldn’t answer. Hell, she could barely even get her fingers to type the next message.
    Do you know why?
    Her hands began to tremble as she waited for the reply.
    They didn’t say. All I know is they have a warrant. They’re in with the Dean now. What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?
    She had no idea. She couldn’t think of any reason for the police to be searching her office…any reason that didn’t chill her to the bone that was.
    She began to tremble all over as the blood started to drain from her face.
    “Verity,” Jake prompted her.
    Sheer panic started to take over, closing her throat. She’d never deluded herself into believing there wouldn’t be consequences for what she was doing out here, but somehow she’d always thought the worst of the fallout would be between her and Roman. Not once did she ever think that the police would come knocking on her door…or even worse, her boss’.
    Dear God, she was going to lose her job.
    The realization hit her like a bolt of lightning, shocking her system until she couldn’t move, couldn’t even breathe.
    That job was her life. Her passion. It was everything she’d ever lived and fought for.
    “Verity,” Jake called out again.
    When she still didn’t answer, he pulled over to the shoulder and hit the brakes. A cloud of dust crested over the top of the cab as they came to a sudden stop. Jake didn’t wait for it to settle before taking the phone from her hand. He cursed under his breath as he quickly scanned through the messages.
    When he looked back up at her face, the look in his eyes was angry but resolute. He clasped his hand over her shoulder, and, just like that, a little of her fear slipped away. It was almost as if she could feel some of his strength seeping into her with just a simple touch.
    “Listen to me, Verity. We’re going to take care of this,” he said, his voice low and even. “I’m going to call my office. Someone there should be able to figure out what’s going on.”
    Verity gave a shaky nod. That sounded like a reasonable first step. Maybe things weren’t as bad as they seemed.
    “While I’m doing that I need you to send Cheryl another message,” Jake went on. “You need to tell her that she needs to get out of there before the cops talk to her. Tell her